I really hope someone's able to get Nintendo's Hitoshi Yamagami on the record about his history as their go-to puzzle game dude someday—he was Gunpei Yokoi's right-hand on Dr. Mario & he's designed, directed and/or produced almost every Nintendo puzzle game you've enjoyed since
let's run em down:
Dr. Mario (series)
Puzzle League/Tetris Attack/Panel de Pon (series)
various Nintendo-published Tetris games including 99, DS & 2/Flash (which might be why it resembles Dr. Mario)
Yoshi's Cookie
Kirby Star Stacker
Pokemon Trozei
Sushi Striker
& probably more
Dr. Mario (series)
Puzzle League/Tetris Attack/Panel de Pon (series)
various Nintendo-published Tetris games including 99, DS & 2/Flash (which might be why it resembles Dr. Mario)
Yoshi's Cookie
Kirby Star Stacker
Pokemon Trozei
Sushi Striker
& probably more
ofc that's not to suggest he's primarily or solely responsible for the design of every one of those games, but some tangential interviews reference Yamagami as someone viewed as having a knack for puzzle design & that it's a passion for him, not just a niche he found himself in
he's done tons outside of puzzle games, especially recently—he heads the division that works with IntSys, HAL, Game Freak, P* & many other projects ppl probably care about way more—but puzzle games have been a constant for a long time & it'd be nice to chronicle that history
